


Casting Doubt

by House_of_Pixels



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Eventual Relationships, F/F, F/M, Harry Potter Crossover - Freeform, other pairings eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:54:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29300715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/House_of_Pixels/pseuds/House_of_Pixels
Summary: Katsuki Bakugou has it all planned out:He'll go to Hogwarts,  where he'll get sorted into the undeniably greatest house: Slytherin. He'll work hard to earn perfect scores, crush his classmates' dreams of beating him and then, once he's completed his education, he'll become the strongest Auror there ever was. Even greater than his hero- Toshinori.Who needs friends when you have ambition, a strong work ethic and pure talent?Only, life doesn't always go as planned and magic manifests in the strangest of ways sometimes.A Hogwarts AU covering years 1-7 and the ways in which our lives are made better by the people in them.
Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Uraraka Ochako
Comments: 30
Kudos: 84





	Casting Doubt

By the time his parents made it through the 9¾ platform barrier, Bakugou was already climbing the stairs to one the compartments of the Hogwarts Express. A glance backward through the steam that billowed up from the cherry red engine told him that his parents knew exactly what was going on- if his mother’s pinched face was anything to go by. Really she may as well have been steaming from the ears as much as the fucking train with herr fury. 

Before her sweeping gaze could locate him, Katsuki ducked into the body of the train quickly passing from car to car to increase the distance from his parents.    
He selected the first empty compartment he could find on the side of the train farthest from the platform and shut the door firmly, reveling in the silence. The compartment was a bit disappointing, if he was being brutally honest. The worn, outdated fabric of the benches had clear indentations where generations of students had sat on the way to their futures and the floor desperately needed good polishing. It smelled vaguely of wet corduroy. 

It was fucking magnificent. 

This is where Toshinori had sat on his way to becoming the most powerful Auror of all time. Well maybe not here exactly, but he definitely sat somewhere on this train on his way to Hogwarts when he’d been Katsuki’s age- some 60 years ago. And by the look of the wear on the materials of the train, Katsuki was experiencing this exactly as Toshinori had. 

Katsuki may be above all the hype that was making his peers all but piss themselves with excitement, but even he could admit that this was a big deal. He was on the Hogwarts Express for Salazar’s sake! That meant he finally got to learn some  _ real  _ magic. Finally he was getting away from his overbearing witch of a mother. 

After the wave of excitement of the magnitude of his being there Katsuki set to work getting his trunk out of the way. It took him two tries and an unspecified number of muttered ‘fucks’ to get his  _ wingardium leviosa _ to work, putting his trunk in the overhead storage. He slumped onto one of the benches of the compartment, looking around. 

“ _ Obscurifico”  _ Katsuki spoke the spell, pointing his wand at the windows of his compartment, watching as they opacified in a frosty haze. A nifty spell he’d learned after his mother had hosted a winter wonderland holiday party last year. 

Maybe if he was lucky the Hag wouldn’t notice he’d slipped out of-

“KATSUKI, I SWEAR ON DEAD GRANDMA MAREEN IF YOU DON’T BLOODY SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR FATHER AND ME, I WILL PERSONALLY REMOVE YOU FROM HER GRINGOTTS VAULT!” His witch of a mother’s voice still managed to permeate through the train to him, despite the hard earned space he’d put between them.    
No dice on avoiding them until the train left then. Still, as tempting as it was to just take the hit and not have to do the sappy goodbye thing, Katsuki wasn’t an idiot. Grandma Mareen had been fucking loaded. He’d be an idiot to chance that money.

He shot up from his seat and stomped across the compartment towards the other side of the train where his mother’s screech was emanating from the platform. He wrenched the door to his compartment open and crossed the central aisle to the mirroring compartment, completely ignoring the three older students who were gawking at his interruption.   
“I- I’m sorry this compartment is occupied…” One of the girls seated on the bench said. 

Katsuki didn’t even acknowledge their presence, just crossed the compartment, awkwardly knocking the students knees out of his way before reaching the window. Yanking the window open, he located his mother’s fuming form on the platform, his father helplessly trying to calm her down, while parents and children gave the pair a wide berth and strange glances.    
“Who even is that?!” one of the chicks in the compartment with Katsuki whispered.

“Is he a... what the hell- he’s a first year!” The other replied. 

The boy stood up, face pulling in a frown at Katsuki’s blatened disinterest in listening to a goddamn thing they were saying.   
“Hey you can’t just come in here and-” the boy said only to be cut off by Katsuki’s dismissive eye roll as he stuck his head out the train’s window.   
“FUCKING FINE! GOODBYE YOU HAG!” Katsuki shouted at his mum. 

The sound of his shout caused his mother’s head to snap in his direction as well as those of several sets of families, offended and aghast expressions on their faces as they hustled their kids away from his train car. Fucking fine by him, he didn’t want to sit with any extras anyway.

Behind him the three students seemed to be shocked into silence by his shout.   
His mother, however, was not so much shocked into silence as spurred into irate fury. 

She sent him a glare so cold it burned and began to stomp over to his window. Katsuki began to fear the repercussions of his proficiency at giving his mother the slip, when the fates intervened on his behalf in the form of social politeness, an irony not lost on Katsuki. Mrs. Bakugou, after all, could not resist the urge to be friendly with their neighbors, least of all the Mydoria family, which was the very family that crossed her warpath to Katsuki. 

Mrs. Inko roped his mother’s attention away from where Katsuki was hanging his head out of the window, while Izuku turned to look at him. A big cheesy grin spread on his freckled face as he took in Katsuki’s scowl.

“Kacchan!” Deku exclaimed skipping, yes- the nerd fucking  _ skipped _ , over to stand below the window, “Are you excited? Because I’m excited! We’re finally going to Hogwarts, just like we always talked about!”

“Tch! Just another place for me to kick your squibish ass, Deku. Get lost.” Katsuki sneered, ignoring the twinge of nostalgia for the days when he and Izuku would play Auror in their backyards. Those days were long past. He brushed off the uncomfortable twist of his gut at the thought. 

He’d seen the pitiful ‘magic’ the broccoli head did, no way was he going to be held back by someone so utterly bad at magic. Merlin, the kid couldn’t even produce the most basic  _ incendio _ to light a fucking candle. Why in seven hells would Katsuki want to be around someone like that? 

“I’ll be there in a second, just gotta say goodbye to my mum.” Deku squeaked as if he somehow didn’t understand the concept of the words ‘Get lost’. Deku turned and scurried back over to where their parents were talking.

Katsuki’s face scrunched up in distaste. No  _ way _ was Deku going to sit with him on the train. He would rather snap his wand and eat the splintered halves. 

Katsuki grabbed the latch of the window, making to close it and rush back to his compartment before Deku could figure out where he was. He paused when he caught his father looking at him, waving goodbye with a kind smile. Katsuki paused in indecision. Then, seeing that his mum was still fully absorbed in her conversation with Ms. Inko, he raised a hand and waved once. Just real quick. Then he shut the window, ignoring the rude glares of the three students and rushed back across the train.

...Only to find that his compartment wasn’t empty anymore. 

The glass he’d fogged up had been cleared somehow. Through it Katsuki could see a girl with huge hair dyed a disgusting color of pink and some random boy with eyes the same unusual red color as his. The two kids were sitting across from each other talking loudly enough that he could hear it through the door. Their trunks were resting on the ground at their feet, blocking any sort of foot space. Salazar’s balls, didn’t the extras see that this compartment was already taken?

“I can totally teach you the spell!” The girl was exclaiming loudly, crossing the space between the benches with her wand pointed at the dude's head, “My big sister taught it to me this summer for my hair. But she said they wouldn’t let me keep it like this at school. But maybe if we  _ both _ had color they would let us!”

“That would be so manly! I always wanted red hair!” They boy said, making a fist.    
Katsuki had seen enough to know these squatters were settling into his space. He wretched the door open forcefully.

“Who the fuck are you?” Katsuki demanded. 

The kids' heads swiveled to look at him in surprise. The pink haired one’s eyes immediately went to Katsuki’s drawn wand and then, to his utter annoyance, a broad grin spread on her face. 

“Do you know any cool spells?!” She asked, jumping at him in a way that caused him to take a step back into the hall. 

“What the hell-” Katsuki exclaimed in surprise.

“‘Cuse my sister taught me some, but they’re all really lame. Just stupid tricks and dumb jokes. None of the stuff we get to learn in school!” Pinky continued leaning into the space he’d created between them. Did she not get the concept of personal space or some shit?

“Of course I bloody know spells! I’m gonna be the best wizard of all time- better than Toshinori!” Katsuki spat. 

“Oh! I love that dude!” The guy said, flashing a smile and eager nod. 

“He is super banging. My sisters said he was one of the best professors at school!” Pinky agreed.

Katsuki stared at the two imbeciles, confused how they got so off track. They were supposed to be leaving, not sitting talking about how awesome Toshinori was. Fuck this! They clearly weren’t getting it.

“The fuck are you doing in my compartment?!” Katsuki said, reaching out to physically move Pinky out of his bubble.

“ _ Your _ compartment?” Pink asked, seemingly unaffected by being pushed out of the way, “It was empty when we got here and I don’t exactly see your name-”

Katsuki just pointed his wand at where ‘K. BAKUGOU’ was written on his trunk in the overhead rack. The two turned to look where the tip of his wand was pointing.

“Oh, look Mina, his name!” The dude said, and Pinky just shrugged. 

“Whatever, you can’t expect to have this  _ whole _ compartment to yourself.” Pinky said as if he hadn’t just completely eviscerated her argument, “Besides, now you can help me with Kiri’s hair!”

“I am not helping you fix his shitty hair-” Katsuki’s protests fell on deaf ears as Mina dragged him further into the compartment, causing him to stumble over the idiots’ trunks. 

“Salazar’s dick!” He cussed as he regained his footing. Fuming, he whipped his wand at one of the trunks swishing and flicking his wand the way his mum had shown him over the summer. “ _ Wingardium leviosa” _

The trunk floated up to rest on the rack. The two idiots stared in amazement. 

“Wow dude that is so freaking manly, how’d you learn that?” Shitty Hair asked in awe.

“I already told you, I’m the best wizard this sorry school has ever seen!” Katsuki bristled as he repeated the spell on the second trunk. 

“Oh!” Pinky exclaimed as the second trunk settled onto the rack, “You were the one who cast the fogging spell on the windows! It took me three tries to get that off. That’s some good spellwork.”

“Obviously.” Katsuki said in a huff. 

“Okay, see you  _ gotta _ help me do Kiri’s hair now!” Pinky declared seriously and Katsuki just stared in disbelief. How many times did he have to say no? How many fucks did he have to add to his sentences before this idiot got it? 

Katsuki’s face screwed up in distaste and he opened his mouth to protest but Pinky beat him to it

“I’m not going to give up, I have  _ five _ older sisters. I have zero problems being annoying until I get what I want.” Pinky said, staring at him with an honest to Godric scary as fuck smile. Katsuki realized this was not a battle he would win without a fight.

“Fucking fine, I’ll help but only if you promise to leave me alone after that.” Katsuki agreed, thinking that then he would have a compartment with two quiet companions. Then if Deku somehow found him he could claim the compartment was full. He’d help with whatever bullshite spell Pinky wanted to do to ensure that he could keep Deku out of his compartment. 

“EEEEE!” Pink squealed, causing Katsuki to wince and second guess his decision. Something told him he was going to regret this. 

* * *

Turns out Pinky was not going to follow through on that deal and he one-hundred-percent had been right about his future of regret. She and the now red haired boy named Kirishima were stuck to his side like a pair of leeches sucking his will to live. 

When they crossed the lake to the castle Katsuki couldn’t even enjoy the fucking breathtaking view of Hogwarts lit up in the darkness because the two idiots were blithering on about which house they wanted to get in. As if they had any say in the matter. Besides, anything but Slytherin was a damn joke. 

“My whole family has been in Gryffindor for years.” Shitty Hair mused as they exited the boats and began the trek up to the castle, “I think the sorting hat must take family tradition into account.”

Katsuki scoffed. The other two ignored him.

“Well almost all of my sisters are in different houses so it can’t be  _ that _ important.” Pinky mused thoughtfully, “Where do you want to go Katsuki?”

“Slytherin of course.” Katsuki replied shortly, pushing himself ahead of the other two up the stone steps leading up to the castle. They passed several slower huffing first years who’d gotten off their boats ahead of them as they climbed. Katsuki pushed forward to pass them all. The best didn’t walk behind other people. They led. 

Pinky snorted, “Figures.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!” Katsuki snapped, halting to whirl on Pinky, who just brushed past him continuing up the stairs.

“You clearly have ambition in spades. And the attitude to match, Slytherin is  _ perfect _ for you.” She called over her shoulder, practically skipping up the steps. 

Katsuki fumed as he stomped up the steps faster, shoving past her to get back in the lead. As he passed he just barely caught the conspiratorial look Pinky gave Shitty Hair.

“If you’re so fucking good then where do you want to go?” He snapped, annoyed that they seemed to be immune to his prickly attitude. 

“I want to go to Slytherin too!” She chirped and Katsuki rolled his eyes. 

“Whatever, you’re probably gonna end up in Hufflepuff.” He snarked before striding up the steps faster, making the other two work to keep up. 

The two bimbos had continued chatting about some other stupid topic as they finsihsed climbing.

Then they’d filed into the Great Hall and Pinky had been a fucking noise machine of awed sounds. Shitty Hair was just as amazed, jaw nearly on the ground as he took in the floating candles and ghosts, gandering at the new sights as if he’d neve seen magic before. Katsuki just rolled his eyes, scanning the crowd of his over-eager classmates. 

He first noticed Deku’s stupid springy head of mold-green hair, thankfully located across the mass of other students. Deku was chatting animatedly with some girl with a obnoxiously round cheeks and Tenya Iida of all fucking people. 

Katsuki had known the Iida family for years of course, their families often had tea or breakfast or what the fuck ever his hag of a mother felt was important to ‘maintain ties’. From what Kattsuki remembered, Tenya had a stick shoved so far up his ass he hadn’t even  _ tried _ to cast a spell before coming to school. It broke some random rule that seemed dumb and too below Katsuki to follow. Of course Deku would make friends with that weirdo. 

He also spotted the two toned head of Icy Hot himself, youngest brat of the mighty Todoroki Family. Katsuki’s eyes narrowed as Shouto turned to meet his stare blankly. Katsuki could recognize the fact that the Minister’s son was likely his biggest competitor in this school, and Icy Hot looked like he knew it too. 

Katsuki raised a lip threateningly at the Two Toned moron just as a clear, surprisingly loud voice called the students to attention.

“HELLOO, my name is Professor Mic and I would like to personally welcome you to your first year at Hogwarts! We will get the sorting done quickly so we can get to the feast! This year let’s not have any more,  _ hem _ , interruptions.. _. _ ” The man said, giving a pointed glare at the students seated at the long wooden table under the Gryffindor banners.

“Last year my older sister Tallia charmed the benches at the house tables to eject anyone younger than 13.” Pinky hissed into the air between where Katsuki and Shitty Hair stood, “It was a big disaster apparently.”

Katsuki coughed to cover up the laugh that escaped him at the image of all the first years being launched into the air as they tried to sit at their new house tables. 

“First years please arrange yourselves at the front of the hall, yes- like that. We will go down the list in alphabetical order.” Mic continued above the dull hiss of students whispering and giggling at the mentioned events of the previous year.

“Ashido, Mina” Professor Mic called loudly and Pinky skipped up to the stool in front of where the blonde haired teacher was holding out what looked to be a disgusting hat. Surely  _ that _ was not the infamous sorting hat? The thing looked ancient and desperately in need of a washing and several new patches. 

Apparently, it was because no one else seemed to be confused as to why a Professor Mic was holding such a ratty old hat. 

Mic placed the hat on Pinky’s head and it deliberated for a bit before one of its seams opened up to proclaim: “Slytherin!”

Loud cheers and whooping could be heard from several girls at various tables throughout the hall, though they were drowned out by the cheers from the table decorated with green and silver. Mina smirked and walked over to the Slytherin table. 

Katsuki got distracted trying to pick out exactly how many of the Slytherin students Pinky appeared to know. She chatted up the table as if she’d known her housemates all her life. Maybe she would be more useful than he’d initially thought... 

A couple other extras got sorted into their houses as Katsuki analyzed the students at his future house before Katsuki was called.

“Bakugou, Katsuki.” Professor Mic called and Katsuki loped over to the stool. The hat had barely touched his head when it declared , “SLYTHERIN!” 

Katsuki smirked as he made his way over to the Slytherin table, hesitating for a second as Mina waved him over, scooting to make room for him. He rolled his eyes but made his way over to her all the same. 

Kirishima ended up being sorted into Slytherin with him and Pinky, sealing Katsuki’s fate of seven years of toture between the two idiots. He  _ knew _ he was going to regret agreeing to sit with them on the train. The other first years sorted into their house were not noteworthy in his opinion. Just a bunch of extras. Deku got sorted into Gryffindor along with that Todoroki fuck. The Iida kid was placed in Ravenclaw. Everyone else was just noise as Katsuuki waited for the whole thing to be over so he could eat. 

The food was good, but the best part of that night was when Headmaster Nezu let Professor Professor Toshinori give the welcome speech. The man was a legend, having single handedly taken out the most powerful dark wizard in history. 

Katsuki was still reveling in the fact he  _ finally _ got to show his hero how awesome he was as he and the two idiots were led down to the dungeons to the Sytherin common room. 

“Katsuki!” Pinky exclaimed, “Are you even listening? I was just introducing you to Denki and Hanta! They’re in our house too!” 

Katsuki slowed his steps to turn and look at the inexplicably growing crowd of idiots following him around. Mina was pushing two boys forward, both rather scrawny and not at all looking like they were a challenge. One was eyeing him with a charming smile that boarded on flirtatious while the other just looked supremely uncomfortable. The sly one had blonde hair that stood on end that made Katsuki wonder if he’d been electrocuted earlier in the day. Great, more people he had to drag with him to the top. 

“Hey man, nice to meet you! Mina said you can already cast-” The one with blonde hair spoke, holding a hand out for a handshake. 

“Fuck off Sparky.” Katsuki growled and spun back around to keep walking. 

“Heh! He’s a bit grouchy, but he’s really good at magic! He helped me do Kiri’s hair on the train!”

“Sick, red is such a good color for you dude” Sparky complemented Shitty Hair, and Katsuki decided he was done with this conversation.    
Maybe if he ignored them they’d pick up on the hint and leave him alone. 

* * *

Spoiler: they did not leave him alone. 

If anything, in the following days as classes began the group of idiots (who had inexplicably began calling themselves the ‘Baku-squad’) only bugged him with increased vigor. The more he ignored them, the more the clung. Eventually Katsuki broke down and decided to tolerate them. And it had nothing to do with the fact he sometimes enjoyed their company. They were just nice to have around to fluff up his ego a bit- that was all. 

His favorite class was, unsurprisingly, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Toshinori. The fact that they had to take it with the Gryffindors would not stop him from loving the class. He also really enjoyed potions, if only because Professor Aizawa seemed to give zero fucks about whether his students liked him. Katsuki had to respect that. 

Those first weeks Katsuki worked hard. He came in at the top- none of his classmates could match him in the number of spells he knew, let alone match him in raw talent. But he couldn’t relax, not even for a second. He was gonna be the best, which meant no slacking regardless of how lame his classmates were in comparison.

He spent hours working on his spells and potions, and had a nearly permanent spot in the Slytherin common room where he’d overtaken a corner table to work. Of course, no one remembered all the work he’d done when he managed to pull off third level spells in class like it was nothing. The extras all chalked it up to his amazing talent. But he knew better. And his,  _ gag _ , friends knew better too. 

Which was why it pissed Katsuki off so much that Deku seemed to have stumbled into some previously unknown magical prowess. Like, where did that kid get off on showing up to school and suddenly being good at magic? Seriously, where the fuck did  _ that _ come from? To make matters worse it was making the little shit bolder in his attempts to be friends with Katsuki. 

For example that one potions class where Deku had decided he wanted to tempt death by walking over to Katsuki and Kiri’s bench. It was sometime into their fourth week and the class was busily brewing Wiggenweld Potion while Aizawa slept in a corner. (Professor Aizawa’s sleeping habits was something Katsuki had  _ thoughts _ on, but that was for a different time.)

“Kacchan!” Deku squeaked as he bounded over to the table where he and Kirishima were busily preparing their lionfish spines. 

“Fuck off Deku.” Katsuki said on autopilot, glaring at Deku as he came to a halt in front of the bench. Kirishima glanced between Katsuki and Deku nervously. Deku’s grin faltered slightly before coming back full force. 

“Ochako and I were wondering if you were cutting the spines length wise or cross section?” Deku blazed on, gesturing back to his bench where the round cheeked girl who followed Deku around like a love-sick puppy was watching wearily. Katsuki narrowed his eyes at her and she puffed out her cheeks in irritation, making them impossibly more round. 

“Why don’t you try both and see which explodes?” Katsuki snapped and Kirishima sighed. 

“We’re cutting them lengthwise, Izuku.” Shitty Hair said, elbowing Katsuki and muttering “not manly, dude.” 

Katsuki rolled his eyes and began furiously splitting the spines. 

“Thanks Kirishima!” Deku chirped as he skipped back to Moon Face, whose face broke out in an obnoxiously bright smile as Deku returned. Gross.

Katsuki tore his eyes away from where Deku and Moonface had resumed work on their potions to see Shitty Hair giving him a disapproving frown.

“What?!” Katsuki snapped.

Kirishima just shook his head and turned back to the bench. Katsuki rolled his eyes and got back to work. 

* * *

The year progressed and Katsuki found himself more and more annoyed by Deku, who had somehow managed to pick himself up by the bootstraps and make it to the middle of the pack. That trajectory was dangerous, only a fool would be oblivious to what a threat Deku’s inexplicable tallent was. 

Katsuki was still top of the class, he wouldn’t let it be any other way. But at this point Deku’s little group of friends were encroaching on his spot from all sides. Of the top ten students Deku’s stupid circle took up five spots. Five! Somehow round Moonface, Todoroki, Iida and some chick who inexplicably reminded Katsuki of a frog we're all in the Top Ten of the class while his Moron Brigade boasted only himself. How was it that a bunch of Slytherins, you know the house known for  _ ambition,  _ were being beaten by a bunch of knuckled headed Gryffindors and a religiously rule bound Ravenclaw for top seats?

When he accused his friends of being dead weight however, Mina just scoffed and commented that rankings like that were ‘not real indicators of success’. Kaminarri pointed out that Slytherin was still in the lead for the house cup. Kirishima was unhelpfully excited for the enemy. How Shitty Hair even ended up in Slytherin at all was a mystery, he was such a fucking Hufflepuff. 

The competition between Katsuki and Todoroki was one that exemplified a ‘cold war.’ Katskuki didn’t interact with, acknowledge or respond to anything related to the Minister’s son. The little fucker didn’t deserve Katsuki’s attention, not when he was right on Katsuki’s heels, one assignment away from taking the top spot. 

Todoroki was possibly the only person who could compete with Katsuki in any real way. 

They clashed in classes as each performed magic beyond their years, without so much as breaking a sweat. Maybe that was because Todoroi was naturally talented, but Katsuki suspected a simpler explanation: Todoroki was a relentless force of practice. His cool demeanor and wooden plank like personality meant he had little to do but study and practice. For fucks sake the dude didn’t really have friends aside from Deku, and Katsuki wasn’t really sure if Icey-Hot even liked Deku all that much. Swear to Godric, Katsuki would believe it if someone told him Deku was blackmailing Todoroki. The expression of pained bewilderment that dominated the Two Toned Fucker’s face anytime Deku dragged him into his loser squad’s vicinity was a dead give away. 

So he was natturally appalled when the topic of that Half and Half bastard came up one night as the Baku-squad sat around the flickering fire in the common room. It was late November and the idiots were lounging around the black leather couches while Katsuki furiously worked on the potions paper on the uses of Dragon’s Blood that had been assigned earlier in the day. 

“Squad poll: Todoroki, cute or nah?” Mina spoke up suddenly from where she was lazily directing a paper canary’s flight around the room with her wand. 

“Oh hot for sure. He’s so cold that he circles right around from frigid to hot.” Denki said immediately. 

“Dude. you responded  _ way _ too fast.” Hanta snarked with snicker.

“What, I’ve thought about it, like, a normal amount, okay?” Sparky defended goodnaturedly with a shrug, “Dude has a really symmetrical face, like, if you cut it in half they would match perfectly.”

“That’s a really serial killer kind of thing to say... '' Mina said, looking the blonde up and down in suspicion.

“It’s not that weird! Symmetry is, like, biologically hot!” Sparky whined, “Common guys, I can’t be the only one, Kiri?”

“I’m with Mina on this one, that’s kind of a weird thing to say.” Shitty Hair confirmed with an apologetic face.

Denki let out a loud whining kind of sigh and slumped down further onto the couch. 

“Right, well we know where Denki stands on the kiss or kill in a violent gemoetrically motivated murder spectrum, what about the rest of you chumps?” Mina quipped playfully, ignoring Sparky’s moan of pain. 

“Yeah he’s cute.” Kririshima confirmed with a toothy grin.   
“I’m straight...?” Hanta replied and Katsuki could swear he heard Pinky’s eyes roll in time to her tongue click.    
“Lame. As if  _ that _ has anything to do with noticing objective hotness. Katsuki?” Pinky called to where Katsuki was definitely not eavesdropping and was definitely actually working on his paper. 

“Unlike you useless fucks, I am doing homework and not gossiping about two toned losers.” Katsuki stated matter of factly.

“Bullshite!” Sparky huffed, “You haven’t written anything in at least fifteen minutes!”

“I am not fucking-”

“Sooo Kitty Kat? What do you think? Shouto, crush or bust?” Pinky interrupted. 

“He’s a conniving little fuck trying to take the number one spot from under my nose so he can make daddy proud. I am going to burn his ambitions to ash and spread them over the grave of his dreams.” Katsuki spat, “ And don’t call me that.”

“What ‘Kitty Kat’?”

“Fucking-” Katsuki shouted, balling a fist up at the grin the spreading on Pinky’s face. Merlin, she thrived off of chaos. Mina raised a challenging brow at the red color rapidly filling his face as he repressed his ire at her. Sparky was glancing between them with a look of incredulity on his face.

“Oh and  _ I’m _ the psycho here?! Did you guys not just hear that?” Sparky asked, gesturing wildly at Katsuki. Seeing no one respond he crossed his arms, face souring as he mumbled under his breath to himself. 

“Besides,” Katsuki continued, spinning in his wooden chair to face the group, “He hangs around Dead-Weight Deku. I can’t associate with people who are so willing to soil themselves with that loser's incompetence.”    
“Man. You  _ gotta _ stop hating on Izuku. You are way too cruel to the little dude.” Shitty Hair said disapprovingly.    
“Yeah it is a bit obsessive- your hatred for him that is.” Pink agreed, giving him a look.    
“I am  _ not _ obsessed with Deku. He’s a threat.” Katsuki mumbled.   
“A threat to what? The house elves’ supply of ice cream?” Kiri counted with a skeptical look, “The dude is so wholesome. I don’t get why you hate him so much.”   
“He and Todoroki can go die in a hole. “ Katsuki spat, furious that they couldn’t see that Deku was up and coming. That Icey-Hot and their whole gang of goodie two shoes were coming to take his place at the top.    
“Godric you can be dramatic.” Pinky scathed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, “Anyway, I think it safe to say we are in agreement that the baby Todoroki is cute. And if his older brothers are a good indicator of the Todoroki Family’s ability to become exponentially hotter as time goes on we are in good shape!”

“Mina I swear you are the strangest girl I have ever known.” Shitty Hair said, looking concerned at Pinky’s declaration.    
“Well you clearly haven’t known many girls then.”    
They had no response to that.    
“Right… so who’s excited for the Quidditch match this weekend?” Sparky changed the topic awkwardly, “We’re totally gonna destroy Hufflepuff.”   
“What?” Hanta jumped in, “No way! They’ve got those sixth years- shoot what are they called?”

“The Big Three!” Pinky supplied, “They’re really good, I heard Mirio already has offers for spots on several pro teams after he graduates.”   
“That’s so manly!”   
Katsuki tuned them out after that, trying to stop the simmering irritation at the turn the conversation had taken about his two biggest rivals. How could his friends not see what a threat Deku’s merry gang of idiots posed to their position in the school? What did his friends think- that they were just  _ allowed _ to occupy their usual spot in the common room or at the best lunch spot just next to the lake under the willows by chance? Fuck no! It was because Katsuki was a badass, a prodigy that everyone knew was going places. Well that and the fact Mina basically knew all the upperclassmen through her sisters. Besides the point. 

The professors let Kiri get away with his red hair and Denki get away wih being stupid because Katsuki was top of the class. Did they think Aizawa wasn’t aware that Katsuki basically brewed all their potions himself so the morons wouldn’t blow up the dungeons? If Deku or Todoroki took that from him they would not be getting as lenient treatment, this was as much their problem as it was his.    
Katsuki’s very real paranoia over Todoroki was worsened by the fact he had started noticing the kid sharing a library table with Momo Yayorozu, arguably the smartest kid in their class. He did not need Shouto getting tutoring from that chick. Or worse- for her to join up with Deku and the rest to further solidify the group’s dominance over the first year class. Truly nightmare fuel.   
When winter break came and Katsuki went home to spend every waking hour practicing his magic or demanding that his parents show him more advanced spells. All to keep the competition behind his advances.    
He learned some pretty advanced stuff, things he doubted even Todoroki would know yet: a bubble head charm for breathing underwater.  _ Protego.  _ A spell that charmed notebooks to display the writing in one to the other. A sort of instant letter. 

His parents were unsurprised by this fervor for learning, though perhaps a bit worried that Katsuki turned down requests from Kiri and Mina to hang out, instead spending time working on his potion skills. They didn’t say anything, just encouraged him that if he ever wanted to have friends over he just needed to ask. Katsuki had scoffed. Unless and until the Baku-squad got their shit together he would not be spending precious time off with them.    
The break passed quickly and before he knew it Katsuki was heading back to school for the spring term.   
Katsuki came back ready to take on the threats posed to him by his rivals only to discover a threat he wasn’t at all prepared for in the form of a wizard's duel. A duel in which he almost had his ass handed to him in front of all the first years by an unassuming muggle born with the most guts he’d ever seen to date: Ochako-Fucking-Uraraka.   



End file.
